Chicken is by far the most versatile and easy-to-cook food available in the market. It is not only delicious but also healthy and can easily be incorporated into any other dish, elevating the taste significantly and adding a touch of luxury to your plate. But what about our pets? Can dogs eat chicken? I bet you want to share this amazing and delicious treat with your beloved dogs as well, so let’s find out!
Is Chicken Good for Dogs?
Yes, chicken is usually good for dogs. However, it highly depends on the way you feed it. Vets usually recommend the cooked chicken. Cooked chicken is healthy and a great source of protein and can even be added to your dog’s daily diet. However, you can not cook the chicken as you do for yourself. Spices and oils are a no-go for dogs, and seasonings like garlic or onions are also bad, as they can upset your dog’s stomach and cause vomiting and diarrhea. A little bit of salt and pepper season will, of course, not cause any harm, but avoid any sauces and spices.
When fed safely, chicken is a nutrient-rich protein source for dogs, offering numerous health benefits. It’s an excellent source of essential amino acids, vitamins B6 and niacin, and minerals like phosphorus and selenium. Like turkey, chicken supports healthy muscle growth and maintenance, boosts energy levels, and aids digestion. Its high protein content also helps maintain a shiny coat, strong nails, and optimal immune function, making it an ideal ingredient in a balanced canine diet.
Potential Risks of Feeding Chicken to Dogs
Chicken is another good dog-friendly treat, but it does have its downsides. Let’s discuss some of them below:
- Bone Hazards: Chicken bones are a major danger and must be avoided. They can splinter and cause choking, mouth wounds, or obstructions in the digestive system. All vets recommend never feeding your dog chicken without removing the bones first.
- Allergies & Sensitivities: Chicken can be an allergen for some dogs and cause symptoms like itchy skin, upset stomach, or behaviour issues. Introduce chicken to your dog in small amounts and watch for any negative reactions.
- Contamination Risks: A raw chicken diet could be contaminated with dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, causing food poisoning in dogs and humans. Cooking chicken well and with clean hands will eliminate all these risks.
- Nutritional Imbalance: Feeding dogs a diet of only or predominantly chicken can cause nutritional imbalances. Chicken does not contain all the necessary nutrients, but it’s important to consume a well-balanced diet to fulfil your dog’s requirements for vitamins and minerals, including chicken.
Can Dogs Eat Chicken Bones?
Chicken bones are soft and can break down when dogs chew on them, causing splinters in their mouths and throats. This can be very dangerous and cause serious injury. Bones in raw chicken can also cause gastrointestinal blockage and severe distress, so it is best to remove all bones from chicken before feeding it to your dogs.
What Do I Do If My Dog Eats A Chicken Bone?
Having a dog that eats a chicken bone can be problematic and dangerous, but as a responsible pet owner, you should try to stay calm and collected and do the right thing. Evaluate whether your dog is in any danger or exhibiting signs of difficulty breathing. If you notice these signs, take the dog immediately to a veterinarian. And make sure to take care of your dog’s well-being. Here’s what you should do:
- Check for Immediate Danger: Look to see if your dog is choking and in distress, coughing or gagging, drooling abnormally, and unable to breathe. If it shows any signs, take it to the vet immediately.
- Watch for Signs: If your dog seems okay at first, watch them closely over the next 24-48 hours. Look out for signs of stomach upset like vomiting, diarrhea, listlessness, lack of appetite, or blood in the stool, which may indicate an obstruction inside.
- Do not try to make your dog vomit: Forcing your dog to vomit may do more harm. Either the bone could get lodged somewhere down his esophagus, or it might cause more injury on its way up.
- Offer Soft Foods: You can also offer soft food such as bread or canned pumpkins to help cushion the sharp edges and minimize injury. This can facilitate the smooth passage of the bone in your digestive tract.
- Consult with your vet: Even if you think everything is fine, it is always a good idea to contact and run all the details of what happened through your vet. They might conduct an X-ray or some other diagnostics, like a CT scan or MRI, to see if and how the bone is still inside so they can recommend the respective treatment measures.
- Avoid this Incident in the Future: Throw chicken bones only into a garbage can that is secure and away from where your dog will be.
Following these steps will help reduce the likelihood of a potentially deadly complication and keep your dog healthy. The safest thing is to always visit your veterinarian and seek professional advice.
Can Dogs Eat Raw Chicken?
While raw chicken is not toxic for dogs, it does carry dangerous bacteria like E. coli and salmonella, which can be deadly. Most vets do not recommend raw chicken. However, you can still feed it to your dogs, but you must follow the recommended guidelines for complete safety.
Delicious And Healthy: How To Feed Chicken To A Dog
To safely feed chicken to your dog, make sure to remove the bones first, as mentioned earlier. Once you are done removing bones, proceed to wash the chicken thoroughly, making sure it is fresh and clean. If you catch any signs of contamination or worms, immediately discard it. After washing, start cooking it any way you want. Just make sure not to add any seasonings and avoid too much oil or butter. You can boil it, fry it, or even steam cook it. Anything is fine as long as you follow the preventive measures above.
Here are some of the ways you can cook chicken for your dog:
1. Boiled Chicken
Boiled chicken is one of the healthiest options. It does not require oil and can be done easily within 10 to 15 minutes, making it ideal for dog owners. Boiled chicken can help you avoid most of the risks that come with raw chicken. If you want to learn more, Check out our article on how to boil chicken for dogs.
However, like everything else, it also has advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
- Great for sensitive stomachs: Boiling chicken also makes it tender and easier to digest, which can be great for dogs with more sensitive digestive systems.
- Less fat: Boiling Chicken gets rid of all that excessive, unnecessary greasy skin and you’re left with a much leaner cleaner protein.
- Retains moisture: Boiling provides natural moisture to the chicken, which makes it remain juicy and yummy.
Disadvantages
- Nutrition loss: Boiling causes the chicken to lose its nutrients as they leak into the water, producing broth.
- Dry tasting: Boiled chicken does not have any flavour, and some dogs may find it bland.
2. Fried Chicken
Fried chicken is delicious and juicy, but is it healthy? That’s a question everyone asks. Well, fried chicken is not entirely healthy, even for humans. While dogs can eat fried chicken, you should keep it moderate, avoid seasoning, and only feed them occasionally. In high amounts, fried chicken contains oil, which can negatively affect your dog. However, if you keep the oil usage low and feed them in moderation, then there is nothing to worry about.
To fry chicken, you can follow these steps:
- Choose Fresh Chicken: Select a fresh chicken with minimal fat for a healthier option.
- Prepare the Chicken: Remove the skin, fat, and bones, then cut the chicken into smaller pieces.
- Wash the Chicken: Rinse the chicken thoroughly under cold water to remove any contaminants.
- Choose Cooking Oil: Use a dog-safe oil like coconut, canola, or peanut oil. Avoid olive oil, as it can be toxic to dogs in large amounts.
- Coat the Pan: Lightly brush the pan and chicken with oil to minimize excess oil.
- Preheat the Pan: Heat the pan to the desired temperature before adding the chicken.
- Cook the Chicken: Let the chicken cook for 7 to 8 minutes on both sides. The cooking time may vary based on the thickness and size of the chicken pieces.
- Check Internal Temperature: Ensure the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F) to ensure it’s fully cooked and safe to eat.
- Serve: Once cooked, serve the fried chicken plain without any seasoning or sauces. You can add a small pinch of salt and pepper if desired, but keep it minimal for your dog’s health.
If you follow these steps, you can feed your dogs fried chicken without worrying about their health. However, keep it in moderation and avoid giving it to them daily. Fried chicken is best given as a treat occasionally.
3. Steamed Chicken
Steamed chicken is widely considered the best way to prepare chicken for dogs. Steaming allows the chicken to retain all of its nutrients, unlike boiling and keeps the chicken tender and moist with its natural juices
Here is how to prepare steamed chicken perfectly for your dog:
- Prepare the chicken: Rinse it under cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, and cut into pieces or thin slices.
- Fill the pot with water: Add water and fill the pot. The water should remain 2-3 inches below the streamer basket.
- Optional broth infusions: You can add low-sodium broth or herbal infusions for a nutritional and flavour boost. However, this is entirely optional.
- Bringing to a boil: Place the pot over high heat so that the water is brought to a rolling boil
- Reduce heat and steam: Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat (around 160°F/71°C – 180°F/82°C)
- Add chicken to the steamer: Add the chicken pieces carefully into the steamer, not overlapping.
- Cover and steam: Cover the steamer with its lid and let the chicken steam for 10-15 minutes.
- Check for doneness: Take the chicken out from the steamer and check its doneness by cutting the thickest part with a knife. It should be cooked through, tender, and juicy. Make sure the inside is at a temperature of 74°C.
Other cooking methods include grilling, roasting, baking, and poaching. The list is endless, each with its specific advantages and disadvantages. You can consult your vet to choose the best way to prepare chicken for your dogs.
What Exactly Is Chicken Broth?
Chicken broth is the liquid you get after simmering the chicken in water. It contains many nutrients and can be added to other foods to enhance their flavour and protein content. You can also feed it to your dog directly as a treat but don’t add any seasonings.
Can Chicken Replace A Dog’s Full Meal?
Chicken is rich in protein and other essential nutrients. It is a powerful and delicious meal full of energy. However, your dog requires a balanced and healthy diet consisting of all necessary nutrients, vitamins, minerals and protein for proper growth. Meats like chicken, salmon, turkey, shrimp, tuna, beef etc, alone can not provide all of these important nutrients. Hence, they can not replace a full meal for a dog. Instead, you can make them a part of your dog’s daily diet plan.
Here is a table comparing daily nutrient requirements vs the amount provided by the chicken:
| Nutrient | Daily Requirement for Dogs (Based on a 33 lb/15 kg Dog) | Amount in Chicken (per 100g) | Does Chicken Fulfill the Needs? |
| Protein | 30-45g per day | 31g | Yes |
| Fat | 10-20g per day | 3.6g | No |
| Calcium | 1,000mg per day | 13mg | No |
| Phosphorus | 700-1,000mg per day | 200mg | Yes |
| Omega-6 Fatty Acids | 1,800mg per day | 1,200mg | No |
| Iron | 7.5mg per day | 1.2mg | No |
| Zinc | 10mg per day | 1.0mg | No |
| Vitamin B6 | 1.0mg per day | 0.5mg | No |
| Vitamin B12 | 0.025mg per day | 0.35mg | Yes |
- Chicken is high in protein but low in some key nutrients like calcium, zinc, and iron.
- A balanced diet, including other food sources or supplements, is necessary for dogs to meet all daily nutrient requirements.
Can Dogs Eat Chicken Nuggets
No, dogs should not be fed chicken nuggets. Nuggets contain a lot of fat and other preservatives and chemicals, which can be harmful, making them unfit for dog consumption.
Can Dogs Eat Chicken Feet?
Yes, dogs can eat chicken feet. They are rich in nutrients and contain essential compounds like glucosamine and chondroitin, which are very beneficial for your dog. However, chicken feet contain brittle bones, which can splinter and cause injury. You should always feed them chicken feet as an occasional treat under your supervision to avoid any accidents.
Conclusion
And there we have it—everything you needed to know about whether dogs can eat chicken! We hope we were of some help in your quest to seek knowledge for the sake of your beloved pet. Always supervise your dog during its meal so you can promptly react in case of choking due to an undetected bone or any other issues. Consult your vet before feeding any new food to your dog, and you are good to go!
